Potato Growers

[RobJ]

How come there are no vines on these plants. I've grown these new (red) potatos for several years. Recently I saw some pics here about all the vines and hilling and such. Never seen a vine on these. I also plant some brown or russet(maybe) and they look the same. After a couple months the plants die off and we have potatos! Some fist size. Many small ones.

BTW, this is my play test garden in spring. The larger is in Elkhart. I sort of gauge grow, etc. Plus this one gets plenty of water. The other gets what it gets.

These have been in the ground 4-5 weeks I think. The corn about a week longer.

Thanks,
Rob

 

[jinman]

Vines?. . .sounds like sweet potatoes to me.

 

[Knight9]

I've planted red, yellow and white spuds. The only "vines" I get are the weeds that grow in between the hills if I get behind!

 

[RobJ]

OK to make sure I'm not going crazy, check out this thread, and Mr.s Eastinlets posts.

He's got the vines, tubers, hilling, the works!!

Rob


http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/...missing-something.html?highlight=middlebuster

 

[ToadHill]

Easy Potato planting. Find a bunch of old used tires. With the ground worked up, set several starters inside the tire and fill it with dirt. When the tops have reached several inches over the tire, pile on another tire and fill with dirt once the shoots are above the top of the tire.
This can be done with up to 4 or 5 tires, (I usually stop at 3). When it's time to harvest just knock over the tires and pick up the potatoes.
The black tires help the soil to stay warmed up and the taters grow like mad. Just make sure you keep them watered well.

 

[meadowlarkponds]

RobJ,

I always plant potatoes on Valentines Day or just before(located in Livingston area). Begin harvesting after the first of May and have to have them all out of the ground by Memorial Day.

Mine are just now starting to bloom. I usually get about 20 pounds of seed potatoes and harvest about 150 pounds or so. I never plant sweet potatoes cause we just don't eat them much...but man oh man, those new red potatoes and fresh garden green beans...what a treat!!!!

 

[archerynut]

I like ToadHills tire potato idea, think that I am going to try that this year, got a few tires laying around and they aren't doing much but increasing the mosquito population. I have heard of people using heavy duty black garbage bags in the same manner, but if I can find a use for those tires I want to try it.

 

[dooleysm]

I planted some potatoes in a big pile of topsoil I have remaining from the excavation of my son's playground area. I did this last June or so and harvested the potatoes late last fall. My dad and I were moving some of that dirt last night to level out around my chicken coop and we found a small potato. It seemed to be in fine shape for eating, though I don't know what happened to it after I showed it to my wife.

 

[jinman]

OK to make sure I'm not going crazy, check out this thread, and Mr.s Eastinlets posts.

He's got the vines, tubers, hilling, the works!!

Aha! I think I understand what is going on there. He is planting in a hill or raised bed made by throwing up dirt from a furrow to the center like small terraces. That's a method that works well when harvest time comes, but not necessary if you have very sandy soil. I've found that almost everything grows better on a mound than in the furrow. We used to plant in a furrow and then pull dirt in around the plant as it grew. That way its roots were deep from the beginning. That pretty much applied to peas, corn, potatoes, and everything we planted. Getting roots deep is really important with limited moisture.

Anyhow, I think Eastinlets potatoes look a little like vines instead of upright plants because he pulls dirt in around them as they grow. The growth and branching stays close to the gound and appears to be a vine, especially when young. As they grow, they become more "leggy" and tall. When all the leaves die, the limbs of the plant fall to the ground and give the appearance of a sprawling vine.

As may have been said in the other thread, potatoes are not roots, they are tubers that grow between the roots and the top of the ground. When you pull dirt in around the plant, you give more area for tubers to grow. My little experiment with straw on top of seed potatoes worked okay last year, but I was less than impressed because it made the potatoes so accessible to pests. I'm attaching a picture of my little patch last year, exactly one year ago today. I harvested new potatoes in May and all the potatoes in June. We finally used all the potatoes before the first of this year and sweet potatoes in January. They last a long time with plenty of cool dry air.

 

[L3650]

here are some big spuds!